In the Mahdi's Grasp Part 21

"Come, Sam," he said; "we're ready to start."

But there was no reply, and the touch had to be followed up by a shake, and that by one far more vigorous, before there was a loud yawn, and two fists were thrown out in a vigorous stretch.

"What's the matter? Night bell?"

"Wake up, man."

"Eh? Who is it?--Where am I?--You, Mr Frank?"

"Yes. Your camel is waiting for its load. Up with you!"

"Oh, Mr Frank," moaned the poor fellow, "never mind me. I'm about done for."

"Nonsense, man! Don't let the professor see how weak you are."

"But I can't help it, sir. I'm that sore all over that it's just as if I'd been broken. Go on and leave me; I ain't a bit o' good."

"Leave you here in the desert to die?"

"Yes, sir; it don't matter a bit. I'm regularly done for."

"Nonsense! Rouse yourself like a man."

"I couldn't do it, sir. I only want to lie still and die decently.

Daresay the next people who come along will cover me over with a bit of sand."

Frank laughed.

"I do call that unfeeling of you, sir," moaned the poor fellow. "It's heartless, that it is!"

"I can't help it, Sam," said Frank merrily; "the idea is so absurd."

"What, me dying out here in the desert?"

"No, what you said about being covered over with the sand."

"I don't see anything absurd, sir. It's very horrible."

"Not a bit," said Frank. "There wouldn't be anything to bury."

"What!" said Sam, rising up on one elbow and staring wildly at the speaker.

"You see, there are the vultures to begin with, and then there would be the jackals."

"Ugh! Don't, Mr Frank," cried the poor fellow, shuddering. "I never thought about them. That's worse than the camel."

"Ever so much," said Frank. "Come, be a man. How do you spell 'pluck'?"

"I dunno, sir," whined the poor fellow. "I suppose it would be with a very small 'p'."

"Try and spell it with a big capital, Sam. Come, don't let the doctor feel ashamed of you."

"But I don't seem to mind anything now, sir."

"Yes, you do, Sam. You came to help us, didn't you?"

"Yes, sir, I did, but--"

"Are you going to break down over the first difficulty."

"No, I ain't, sir. I--oh dear!--oh my!--I--ugh! what a scrunch!--Hah!

Would you mind lending me a hand, sir?"

"Not a bit, Sam," said Frank. "I'll help you in any way, as you will me; but I want to see you master all this."

"That's right, sir. Here goes, then."

The next moment the man had made a brave effort, and he walked at once to his camel and mounted, Frank standing by as the ungainly beast see-sawed to and fro and sprawled out its legs, and grumbled and snarled as it rose upright.

"Don't make that row!" cried Sam. "You ought to be used to it by this time. That's done it, Mr Frank. Don't tell the doctor what I said."

"Not I, Sam. Bravo! You have plenty of pluck, you see."

"Have I, sir?" said the man pitifully. "I began to think I hadn't a bit. It had got to the bottom somewhere."

"Yes," said Frank; "now keep it up at the top."

In another minute the little camel train was steadily pacing on again over the sands, with the air feeling fresher. The moon, too, was beginning to cast the shadows in a different direction, while the whole party had become silent, no one feeling the slightest inclination to talk.

But it did not seem long now before the silvery radiance of the moon began to grow pale before the soft opalescence in the east, and the far-spreading desert sands took a less mystic tint. Then all at once far on high there was a soft, roseate speck, which grew orange and then golden as if it were the advance guard of the gathering array of dazzling hues which now rapidly advanced till the east blazed with a glory wondrous to behold.

"Your first desert sunrise, Frank," said the professor quietly, as he saw the young man's rapt gaze. "Ah, we have some splendid sky effects here to make up for the want of flower and tree! The desert has glories of its own, as you will see."

For the next half hour Frank forgot his weariness, the want of sleep, and his anxieties in the grandeur of the scene around, as the glories of the day expanded till the sun rose well above the horizon, sending the shadows of the camels long and strange over the yielding sand. Then hour after hour the monotony increased, and the silence grew more oppressive, the heat harder to bear, and but for the calm, contented ease exhibited by the Sheikh and his men, and the example they felt bound to show to their followers, both the Doctor and Frank would have put in a plea for another halt.

As it was they sat firmly as they could, swaying to and fro with the monotonous motion of the camels, and growing more and more faint, while at last Frank spoke to the Sheikh to set one of his young men to keep an eye upon Sam, for he felt at times too much irritated to meet the poor fellow's pleading eyes, and followed close behind the professor, who kept turning in his seat to make some remark to cheer him up.

Then apparently all at once, after he had been straining his eyes vainly over the far-spreading, interminable plain in search of their halting-place, the Sheikh rode alongside, smiling and apparently as fresh as when they had started, to point away in the direction they were going.

"The tents, Excellency," he said.

Frank felt as if he had taken a draught of renewed life, as he raised his hand to his brow and shaded his eyes from the sun.

"I see nothing," he said.

"Look again, Excellency. Your eyes are not used to the desert. There, straight past the Hakim's camel."

"Ah, yes! I can see something like a heap of sand."